Football blocking sled

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for training and conditioning football players including an upright frame supported by spaced runners. A pair of blocking pads are supported by a carriage vertically movable within the frame by a lever and pulley means actuated by a coach standing on a platform supported by the runners for vertical movement of the blocking pads when contacted by a football player.

United States Patent Gardner FOOTBALL BLOCKING SLED John E. Gardner, 4840 Koelsch Dr., Oklahoma City, Okla. 731 17 Filed: Oct. 15, 1974 Appl. No.: 514,856

Inventor:

U.S. c1. 273/55 R; 273/55 R int. Cl A63b 67/00 Field of Search 273/55 R, 55 A; 272/57 B [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,044,776 7/1962 Weidmaier 273/55 R FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 675,742 7/1952 United Kingdom 272/57 B nllllll June 17, 1975 Primary Examiner-Richard C. Pinkham Assistant ExaminerT. Brown Attorney, Agent, or FirmRobert K. Rhea [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus for training and conditioning football players including an upright frame supported by spaced runners. A pair of blocking pads are supported by a carriage vertically movable within the frame by a lever and pulley means actuated by a coach standing on a platform supported by the runners for vertical movement of the blocking pads when contacted by a football player.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures FOOTBALL BLOCKING SLED BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to athletic training devices and more particularly to a football blocking sled.

An important exercise and activity in the training of football players relates to the development and improvement of their defensive and offensive blocking abilities.

Football offensive linemen below the college level must learn to stay low while charging across the line of scrimmage and make and maintain solid contact with the defensive player during the play. Since hitting and maintaining contact with the defensive lineman is the primary objective of the offensive lineman, he must learn to keep his eyes open to follow the movements of the opposing player.

2. Description of the Prior Art Football blocking training devices generally comprise sled-like structures having one or more padded uprights Or supports against which a player or players lunge and engage by their arms and shoulders and move the sled in a pushing motion.

With prior type blocking sleds a lineman making a low charge against the padded supports remains at that point while he semicrawls on his hands and feet, to push the sled, to prevent falling to the ground. The linemans charge should be low with his head up and eyes open. When two opposing linemen charge toward each other and make solid contact, a pyramiding effect will take place. In other words, the force of contact brings both players to a higher upright position. If the offensive linemans charge was low enough he will be against the body of the defensive lineman after the pyramiding effect and will be in position to block the defensive player. Conversely, if the offensive linemans charge was too high, the defensive lineman will be against his body following the pyramiding effect and will be in control. With the prior type blocking sleds there is no pyramiding effect when contact is made with the padded supports thus the player is not subjected to the true action normally resulting from proper contact with an opposing lineman.

This invention overcomes most of the above objections of prior type blocking sleds presently available by, in addition to including a pair of padded supports for horizontal engagement by a player, providing a frame supported carriage means vertically movable upwardly by a coach at the time of and during contact between a player and the supports to simulate the pyramiding effect and movement of an opposing lineman when changing from an offensive to a defensive posture.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An upright frame is transversely supported by a pair of spaced parallel runners. A carriage is supported for vertical movement within the frame by antifriction rollers. A cable, connected with the carriage at one end and a lever at its other end, is entrained over a frame supported block for vertically moving the carriage in response to downward movement of the lever accomplished by an operator or coach standing on a platform forwardly of the frame. A pair of vertically disposed blocking pad supports are connected in spaced-apart relation to the carriage rearwardly of the frame. The

spacing between the blocking pad supports is spanned by yielding panels.

The principal objects of this invention are to provide a football training blocking sled in which a pair of blocking pad supports are vertically movable while being contacted by a player to simulate the movement resulting from contact between two opposing linemen and the movement of an opposing linemans determined attempt to hold his ground when he switches from an offensive to a defensive posture and to train a player to keep his eyes open while tackling or blocking.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top view of the sled;

FIG. 2 is a left end elevational view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view illustrating, by dotted lines, the vertical movement of the carriage and blocking pad supports; and,

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view taken substantailly along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Like characters of reference designate like parts in those figures of the drawings in which they occur.

In the drawings:

The reference numeral 10 indicates the sled, as a whole, comprising an upright frame 12 transversely mounted on a pair of parallel spaced-apart runners 13, each having an upturned forward end portion. The transverse width of the runners 13 is greater than their thickness to define a flat bottom surface 14 for contact with the surface of the earth 15. The frame 12 comprises a pair of upright parallel channel members 16 arranged with the legs 17 of the channel shapes in confronting relation. Top and bottom bars 18 and 20 respectively extend horizontally between and are connected with the upper and bottom ends of the channels. Upper and lower intermediate braces 22 and 24 respectively extend between and are connected with the upper and lower end portions of the channels for the purposes presently explained. Forward and rearward pairs of inclined frame braces 25 maintain the plane of the frame 12 normal to the plane of the runners 13.

A carriage 26 is supported within the frame for vertical movement between the intermediate braces 22 and 24. The carriage comprises a pair of axles 28 and 30 extending horizontally in vertically spaced relation between the channels 16 and terminating at their respective ends in spaced relation with respect to the bight surface 32 of the respective channel. The axles are joined together by cross members 34. Each of the axles 28 and 30 journals a roller 36 at its respective ends having a diameter slightly less than the spacing between the channel legs 17. Each of the rollers 36 include a flange portion 38 having a diameter substantially equal to the spacing between the outer edge surfaces of the respective channel legs 17 to guide the rollers within the channel legs and maintain the axis of the axles normal to the channel bight surfaces 34 and prevent any binding action of the carriage within the channels during movement of the carriage as presently explained. The respective rollers 36 are maintained in a selected position on the respective end portion of each axle by a ring or collar 40 held in place in a conventional manner, as by a set screw, not shown. Obviously, roller bearings, or the like, not shown, may be substituted for the rollers 36, if desired.

A pair of rigid supports 42 are vertically secured in parallel spaced relation to the axles 28 and 30 of the carriage in rearward spaced relation with respect to the vertical plane of the frame by upper and lower pairs of rods 44 and 46. The major portion of each support 42 is straight, as at 48, with the depending portion thereof curved arcuately rearwardly and then forwardly, as at 50 and 52, respectively. The medial portion of the straight section 48 of the supports 42 is preferably disposed 24 to 26 inches (61 cm to 66 cm) above the surface of the earth 15 when the carriage is in an at rest position. The purpose of the supports arcuate portions 50 is to engage the arms of the charging lineman and prevent vertical separating movement of the supports relative to the lineman when the supports and carriage are moved vertically as presently explained. The purpose of the arcuately forward curved portions 52 of the supports 42 is for preventing injury to the forearm portion of the player. Each of the supports 42 are covered by padding, indicated by the phantom lines 54 (FIG. 1), to preclude injury to a player when contacting the supports. The forward surface of the straight portion 48 of the supports has a pair of panels 56 formed of resilient or yielding material secured thereto in door-like fashion which is contacted by a players helmet. The purpose of the panels 56 is to induce a player to keep his eyes open when his shoulders contact the padding 54 and his head passes between the supports and contacts the panels 56.

An elongated flexible strand, such as a cable 58, is connected at one end with a loop or ring 60 secured to the uppermost axle 28, medially its ends, with the cable extending upwardly through an aperture 62 formed in the top brace 22 and entrained through a block 64 secured to the top bar 18 with the other end of the cable connected with a lever 66. One end of the lever 66 is pivotally connected for vertical pivoting movement of its other end portion about the axis of a horizontal pin extending through a pair of ears 68 mounted on the frame bottom bar 20. The vertically movable end portion of the lever is provided with a pedal 70 adapted to be engaged by a foot of an operator or coach, not shown, standing on an operators platform comprising a plank-like member 72 extending transversely between. the forward end portions of the runners 13.

OPERATION In operation the carriage is normally disposed in the position shown by solid lines in the drawings, wherein the intermediate brace 24 supports the carriage 26. The operator or coach stands on the platform 72 with one foot on the lever or foot pedal 70. A football player approaches the padded supports 42 in a low crouching position in an action commonly described as firing out from his line position so that his head passes between the padded supports 42 and contacts the panels 56 while his shoulders and arms contacts the padding 54. The force of the players movement moves the sled, in the direction of the arrow 74, while simultaneously the coach depresses the lever 66 to move the carriage 26 and supports 42 vertically in the direction of the arrow 76, thus simulating the action resulting from contact between opposing linemen. Upward movement of the carriage is limited by the top brace 22. I

Obviously the invention is susceptible to changes or alterations without defeating its practicability, therefore, I'do not wish to be confined to the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings and described herein.

I claim:

1. A football blocking sled, comprising:

an upright frame;

a pair of spaced-apart parallel runners transversely supporting said frame, each said runner having a flat surface adapted to engage the ground;

carriage means vertically movable within said frame;

a pair of blocking pad supports;

means mounting said blocking pad supports to said carriage;

carriage moving means connected with said carriage;

and,

an operators platform supported by said runners opposite the position of said blocking pad supports.

2. The blocking sled according to claim 1 in which said frame is characterized by a pair of upright spacedapart channel members having the legs of the channel shapes arranged in aligned confronting relation and said carriage means includes:

antifriction means disposed between the legs of the respective pair of channel members; and,

axle means extending between said channel members and journalling the antifriction means.

3. The blocking sled according to claim 2 in which said carriage moving means includes:

a foot operated lever pivotally connected, at one end,

with said frame and projecting, at its other end portion, toward said operators platform;

a block connected with the uppermost limit of said frame; and,

a flexible strand connected, at its respective ends, with said carriage and said lever and entrained through said block.

4. The blocking sled according to claim 3 and further including:

a pair of flexible panels connected respectively with the blocking pad supports in opposed aligned relation and jointly spanning the space between the rearward limit of the blocking pad supports. 

1. A football blocking sled, comprising: an upright frame; a pair of spaced-apart parallel runners transversely supporting said frame, each said runner having a flat surface adapted to engage the ground; carriage means vertically movable within said frame; a pair of blocking pad supports; means mounting said blocking pad supports to said carriage; carriage moving means connected with said carriage; and, an operator''s platform supported by said runners opposite the position of said blocking pad supports.
 2. The blocking sled according to claim 1 in which said frame is characterized by a pair of upright spaced-apart channel members having the legs of the channel shapes arranged in aligned confronting relation and said carriage means includes: antifriction means disposed between the legs of the respective pair of channel members; and, axle means extending between said channel members and journalling the antifriction means.
 3. The blocking sled according to claim 2 in which said carriage moving means includes: a foot operated lever pivotally connected, At one end, with said frame and projecting, at its other end portion, toward said operator''s platform; a block connected with the uppermost limit of said frame; and, a flexible strand connected, at its respective ends, with said carriage and said lever and entrained through said block.
 4. The blocking sled according to claim 3 and further including: a pair of flexible panels connected respectively with the blocking pad supports in opposed aligned relation and jointly spanning the space between the rearward limit of the blocking pad supports. 